Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates Go To Shoe Circus

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has a $300 million budget for advertising. Of that $300 million, $10 million was spent to have Jerry Seinfeld endorse Windows Vista. The first ad has been released and is embedded above.

Depending on your perspective, this ad is either really clever or really dumb. It is clever because it can be considered subtle marketing. It’s not as confrontational as Apple’s ads because it does not mention their competitors at all. Another reason why it is subtle is because there is no mention of Windows Vista whatsoever. The ad just has Seinfeld and Gates talking about shoes, showers, and edible computers.

What makes this ad dumb is that Microsoft is that they aren’t being as competitively aggressive in terms of advertising against Apple. The ad is really just about nothing.

This ad aired during the NFL kickoff game on NBC and will also air on TV shows on Thursday night. CNET reported that the advertising company behind this campaign is Crispin, Porter and Bogusky.

Based on what I’ve heard, this advertisement is intended to be a teaser. I’m hoping that Microsoft becomes more aggressive in terms of diminishing the negative perception of Windows Vista. Personally I think it’s a pretty good operating system, but just requires too much hardware.